Hermosa on Metropole LLC v. City of Avalon et al

Filing 13

PROTECTIVE ORDER by Magistrate Judge Frederick F. Mumm re Stipulation for Protective Order 12 Note Changes Made by Court: (see attached) (jm)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION 9 10 HERMOSA ON METROPOLE, LLC, a California limited liability company, 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. 13 CITY OF AVALON, a municipal 14 corporation; and DOES 1-25, Assigned to: Hon. Audrey B. Collins Hon. Frederick F. Mumm (Discovery) [PROPOSED] ORDER ENTERING STIPULATED CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER Note Changes Made by Court. Defendant. 15 Case No. CV13-2439 ABC (FFMx) Trial: January 28, 2014 16 17 [PROPOSED] ORDER 18 This action involves allegations concerning financial harm to Plaintiff 19 20 21 22 23 24 Hermosa On Metropole, LLC ("Hermosa") stemming from the Defendant City of Avalon's ("City") (collectively, the "Parties") alleged deprivation of Hermosa's civil rights. Discovery in this action will involve the disclosure of private, privileged, proprietary, and confidential information, including without limitation the following: A) 25 Confidential and non-public financial records and tax information; 26 B) 27 Proprietary and confidential business information, including leases and rental rates; and 28 SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 C) 2 Confidential and private information of individuals who are not parties to this litigation. 3 Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c) and 29, good cause therefore exists for 4 entry of this Order because the Parties to this action (a) either have sought or might 5 seek the discovery of certain information in this action that the Parties believe is 6 sensitive or confidential, (b) believe that unrestricted disclosure or dissemination of 7 such information could cause them some business or commercial injury, (c) desire 8 an efficient and practicable means to designate such information as confidential and 9 control its disclosure or dissemination, and (d) have agreed to such means as set 10 forth herein. 11 The Court hereby ORDERS THAT: 12 1. During the course of this litigation, all documents and 13 information that a party considers to contain or to constitute confidential, trade 14 secrets, proprietary and/or financial information including but not limited to: 15 (a) financial statements and tax documents; (b) transient occupancy tax forms; 16 (c) leases; (d) property and business valuations; (e) third party tax and financial 17 information; (f) data derived from such confidential information, including any 18 summaries, compilations, quotes, or paraphrases thereof; and (g) any other oral, 19 written, or recorded material which consists of or contains confidential financial 20 information, trade secret, or commercial information or information subject to a 21 claim of right to privacy and that has been designated by the producing party as 22 confidential by stamping or writing "CONFIDENTIAL" on the face of the 23 document, or alternatively, on the portion thereof containing the confidential 24 information, shall be handled in accordance with this Confidentiality Order. 25 2. Any designating party shall have the right to designate as 26 "CONFIDENTIAL" any information and/or document it believes in good faith 27 embodies trade secret, or other confidential research, confidential development, or 28 confidential commercial information, financial, proprietary or personal information. -2SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 3. In the case of documents or information produced by third 2 parties, any third party hereto shall also have the right to designate said information 3 and/or documents as being "CONFIDENTIAL" as necessary. 4 4. A designation of "CONFIDENTIAL" pursuant to this 5 Confidentiality Order shall not be construed as a concession by any party that such 6 information is relevant or material to any issue, or is in fact confidential, proprietary, 7 privileged, or a trade secret. 8 5. CONFIDENTIAL information shall be held in confidence by 9 each person to whom it is disclosed, shall be used only for purposes of this action, 10 shall not be used for any other business purpose, and shall not be disclosed to any 11 person who is not a qualified recipient, except as hereinafter provided. 12 6. With respect to information and/or documents designated as 13 "CONFIDENTIAL," "qualified recipient" shall mean: 14 A) The Court and those employed by the Court, and court reporters 15 and those employed by court reporters to transcribe, record or 16 videotape testimony in this litigation; 17 B) The parties to this case, including officers, employees and/or 18 directors of the receiving party responsible for handling and/or 19 directly participating in the prosecution and defense of this 20 litigation on behalf of the receiving party. 21 C) 22 The outside attorneys and in-house counsel (collectively "attorneys") of the receiving party in connection with this action. 23 D) Members of the paralegal, secretarial and clerical staff (including 24 short hand reporters) employed by the receiving party or its 25 attorneys. 26 E) Members of the data entry and data processing staff employed by 27 the receiving party's attorneys in assisting in the development 28 and/or the data retrieval systems in connection with the action. -3SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 F) The expert witnesses or consultants, if any, employed by the 2 receiving party and/or its attorneys for the assistance in this 3 action. 4 7. All qualified recipients specified in Paragraph 6 (B) through (E) 5 shall, before any CONFIDENTIAL information or documents are disclosed to them, 6 be advised of the provisions of the Confidentiality Order by disclosing counsel and 7 such persons must agree to be bound by the terms hereof and maintain said 8 information or documents in confidence, and not disclose said information or 9 documents to anyone other than in accordance with the terms of this Confidentiality 10 Order. Any qualified recipients specified in Paragraph 6 (F) shall be required to 11 sign the certificate of confidentiality attached as Exhibit "A" hereto prior to 12 receiving any confidential information or documents subject to this Confidentiality 13 Order. Copies of executed certificates of confidentiality shall be maintained by each 14 party. In the event of a dispute regarding disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL 15 information, copies of the certificates shall be provided to opposing parties' counsel 16 upon request. 17 18 8. Persons who are not qualified recipients under this 19 Confidentiality Order may be examined as witnesses at depositions concerning 20 CONFIDENTIAL information if such persons have prior knowledge of such 21 CONFIDENTIAL information, or they agree to sign the certificate of confidentiality 22 attached as Exhibit "A" hereto or to the terms thereof on the record. 23 9. Should a party find it necessary in preparation for trial or other 24 proceedings in this action to disclose an adversary's CONFIDENTIAL information 25 to any person who is not a qualified recipient under the terms of this Order, a notice 26 shall be served on the designating party identifying the person or persons to whom 27 disclosure is to be made together with the designation of the specific documents or 28 contents thereof to be disclosed to each such person and a statement of the necessity -4SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 for such disclosure. Such notice shall be accompanied by a written 2 acknowledgment by each such person to whom disclosure is to be made, stating that 3 he or she has read and understands this Order and agrees to be bound by its terms. 4 If the designating party objects to the proposed disclosure, it shall state its objections 5 and the reasons therefor in writing within ten (10) days of the receipt of the notice. 6 If objected to, the disclosure shall not be made except upon further order of this 7 Court. 8 9.5 If a party to whom CONFIDENTIAL material has been 9 produced is subpoenaed or ordered by another court or administrative agency 10 to produce information that is subject to this protective order, such party shall 11 notify promptly the party who produced the material of the pending subpoena 12 or order. It is the producing party’s responsibility to take whatever action it 13 deems appropriate to challenge the subpoena or order in the issuing court or 14 agency. The party subject to the subpoena or order shall not produce any 15 CONFIDENTIAL materials in advance of the date required by the subpoena 16 or order. Nothing herein shall be construed as relieving anyone subject to this 17 order from any obligation to comply with a validly issued subpoena or order. 18 (FFM) 19 10. In the case of depositions, the provisions of this Order may be 20 invoked by (a) declaring on the record at the deposition that the information that is 21 disclosed is CONFIDENTIAL, with instructions that those portions of the transcript 22 containing such information be separately bound, or (b) designating specific pages 23 as CONFIDENTIAL and serving such designations within 30 days of receipt of the 24 transcript of the deposition in which the designations are made. 25 11. CONFIDENTIAL information shall not be copied or otherwise 26 reproduced by the receiving party, except for transmission to qualified recipients, 27 without the written permission of the producing party, or, in the alternative, by 28 further order of the Court. Nothing herein shall, however, restrict a qualified -5SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 recipient from making working copies, abstracts and digests of CONFIDENTIAL 2 information for use in connection with this action, and such working copies, 3 abstracts and digests of CONFIDENTIAL information shall be deemed 4 CONFIDENTIAL under the terms of this Confidentiality Order. Further, nothing 5 herein shall restrict a qualified recipient from converting or translating 6 CONFIDENTIAL information into machine readable form for incorporation in a 7 data retrieval system used in connection with this action, provided such converted or 8 translated information shall be considered CONFIDENTIAL and that access to 9 CONFIDENTIAL information in whatever form stored or reproduced, shall be 10 limited to qualified recipients. 11 12. Any party seeking to file with the Court any document or thing 12 designated under this Confidentiality Order by that party as CONFIDENTIAL may, 13 at that party's option, seek to have the document or thing filed under seal in 14 accordance with the procedures of C.D. Cal. Local Rule 79-5.1. Any party seeking 15 to file with the Court any document or thing designated under this Confidentiality 16 Order by any other party as CONFIDENTIAL shall file that document under seal 17 under seal in accordance with the procedures of C.D. Cal. Local Rule 79-5.1 unless 18 the designating party provides prior written consent to waiver of this Paragraph with 19 respect to the subject filing. Where one party wishes to file or lodge any documents 20 or things with the Court under seal, the other party shall not unreasonably withhold 21 agreement to such filing or lodging under seal. If such agreement is provided, the 22 Parties shall submit to the Court an application pursuant to Local Rule 79-5.1 23 along with the stipulation and proposed order for such filing or lodging under seal. 24 If no such agreement is provided, then the filing or lodging party shall submit an 25 application and proposed order to the Court pursuant to C.D. CAL. LOCAL RULE 7926 5.1. (FFM) 27 / / / 28 / / / -6SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 13. By entering into this Stipulation, the receiving parties do not 2 concede that the marking of any document as "CONFIDENTIAL" by the producing 3 parties causes that document or the information contained in that document to 4 become confidential trade secrets, proprietary and/or financial information. The 5 receiving party reserves its/his right to move the Court with appropriate notice to 6 remove the "CONFIDENTIAL" designation from any information or documents 7 designated by the producing parties. In such case, designating party shall bear the 8 burden of proving that the designation is justified. The parties shall meet and confer 9 in good faith prior to the filing of any motion to de-designate any material 10 designated as "CONFIDENTIAL." 11 14. The restrictions and obligations relating to documents and 12 information protected by this Confidentiality Order shall not apply (a) to any such 13 document or information which both parties agree, or which the Court rules is 14 already public knowledge or becomes public knowledge other than as a result of 15 disclosure by the receiving party, or (b) to any document or information as to which 16 receiving party demonstrates that it had prior knowledge independently of the 17 producing party. 18 15. Any inadvertent production of documents containing privileged 19 information shall not constitute a waiver of the attorney-client privilege, work 20 product doctrine or any other applicable privilege or doctrine. All parties 21 specifically reserve the right to demand the return of any privileged documents that 22 it may produce inadvertently during discovery if the producing party determines that 23 such documents contain privileged information. Upon request by the producing 24 party for return of any such documents designated as within the attorney-client, 25 privilege, work product doctrine, or any other applicable privilege or doctrine, the 26 receiving party immediately shall return to the producing party all copies of such 27 documents. Nothing herein shall prevent the receiving party from challenging the 28 propriety of the attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or any other -7SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 applicable privilege or doctrine designation by filing an appropriate motion with the 2 court. If any party inadvertently fails to designate a document or information as 3 CONFIDENTIAL, that party may subsequently do so in writing and that material 4 shall be deemed CONFIDENTIAL from the date of such designation. Upon 5 receiving such notice, all receiving parties shall employ reasonable efforts to ensure 6 that all inadvertently disclosed information is subsequently treated as confidential 7 pursuant to the terms of this Stipulated Confidentiality Order. 8 16. Prior to trial, the parties shall meet and confer after the pretrial 9 conference concerning appropriate methods for dealing with material designated as 10 CONFIDENTIAL at trial. 11 17. Upon final termination of this action, including all appeals, each 12 party shall return all materials produced and designated as CONFIDENTIAL to the 13 producing party or shall certify the destruction of such materials, in whatever form 14 stored or reproduced, including all working copies, abstracts and digests thereof. 15 The attorneys representing each party in this action shall be entitled to retain file 16 copies, in whatever form stored or reproduced, including all other materials 17 including, but not limited to, court filings, discovery responses and documents, 18 deposition and court transcripts, correspondence, memoranda, notes and other work 19 product materials, which contain or refer to CONFIDENTIAL information. Any 20 such materials which are not returned or destroyed shall remain subject to this 21 Confidentiality Order, and the Court shall retain jurisdiction to ensure that the terms 22 hereof are not violated. 23 18. The Court can modify this Order in the interest of justice or for 24 good cause shown. 25 19. Good cause exists for this Order. This action involves the 26 proprietary business and financial information of the Parties and third-parties, and 27 discovery in this action will involve the disclosure of private, privileged, 28 -8SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 1 proprietary, and confidential information, including without limitation the 2 following: 3 4 A) 5 Confidential and non-public financial records and tax information; 6 B) 7 Proprietary and confidential business information, including leases and rental rates; and 8 C) 9 Confidential and private information of individuals who are not parties to this litigation. 10 The Stipulated Confidentiality Order submitted by the parties is hereby 11 entered. 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 14 Dated: August 29, 2013 By 15 /S/ FREDERICK F. MUMM Hon. Frederick F. Mumm United States Magistrate Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -9SMRH:409908028.1 [PROPOSED] ORDER

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